In the modern assembly line production of products for the mass-market, as well as in the end retail market, an important stage is the labeling of the product. Although a good deal, and often all, of the information needed on the package (UPC, source identification, etc.) can be printed on the wrapping material itself, there often remains the need to affix other labels. These labels include in particular, but are not limited to, point of origin, price tags, theft-mitigation tags and the like. Such labels are often applied by the end retailer, either to the outside of the product or to the outside of the product's packaging. However, large retailers have recently began to demand these labels be already affixed when the products arrive from the manufacturer or wholesale-distributor.
The vast volume and variety of labels applied has led to numerous specialized pieces of equipment designed to apply labels to products (“labelers”). In the past labels were typically supplied to the labelers in two forms: with adhesive “self-adhesive” or without adhesive “linerless.”
Self-adhesive labels are typically manufactured and used in a pre-printed and pre-cut form. The label making equipment advances the composite self-adhesive label material and non-adhesive backing from a supply reel, through a printer which can provide desired indicia such as text and graphics onto the label. The label material is then fed through a die-cutter where the adhesive labels are cut without cutting the non-adhesive backing material; any matrix surrounding the cut labels is peeled away and discarded. The individual labels being releasably attached to the roll of non-adhesive backing are thereafter rewound into a coiled arrangement for use by manufacturers or retailers in label application machinery.
Labelers utilizing the coils of self-adhesive labels peel away the non-adhesive backing and place the labels with the pre-applied adhesive on the back to the desired surface. The machinery utilized to accomplish this task may be as simple as manual hand-held equipment or complicated specialized equipment designed to apply labels to a specific size or type of product.
Linerless label applicators utilize pre-printed and pre-cut labels without pre-applied adhesive. Liquid adhesive is applied to the back of the label using a glue roller. The adhesive label is transferred to a transfer roller with the front edge of the label secured to the transfer roller. The transfer roller translates and presses the label against the desired surface. This causes the label, due to the adhesive on the back of the label, to stick to the desired surface. The label is then smoothed onto the surface by brushes. These roller type labeling machines are often difficult to control, often leaving labels that peel or unattractively wrinkle soon after application.
Several problems have arisen in the prior art devices that utilize pre-cut self-adhesive labels. Often the label is not cut cleanly from the continuous web of label material, leaving an undesirable and aesthetically unpleasing appearance to the severed length of the label material. The adhesive labels often leave residual adhesive on the peeler bars used to strip the labels from the backing and place them on the labeled surface. The residual adhesive can then be transferred to product surfaces and leave unattractive marks. Additionally, the non-adhesive backing material must continuously be rewound or torn away by the equipment.
Accordingly, what is lacking in the art is a device for assembling disposable hand-held label-applicators in which individual unbacked labels are utilized in a stacked arrangement operable in the rapid and flexible fashion necessary to utilize the devices on irregularly shaped objects, as well as flat surfaces, without the need for mechanisms designed to peel away a backing material or rollers to apply moisture or adhesive to a label before application.